Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Orginally a medical miracle, cocaine is now a dangerous pariah drug. Cocaine: Global Histories examines the rise and fall of this notorious substance. In the nineteenth century it was openly legal and legitimately used by scientists, doctors and pharmaceutical giants alike. This contrasts starkly with the international prohibitionist regimes and underground circuits linked to cocaine today.

Drawing on exciting new global perspectives, Cocaine analyses and rethinks the origins of the modern drug cocaine. For the first time, a book brings together the world's leading writers on the history of cocaine. Themes explored include:

- the early manufacture, sale and control of cocaine in the United States;

- Amsterdam's complex cocaine network;

- Japan and the unknown Southeast Asian cocaine industry;

- export of cocaine prohibitions to Peru;

- sex, drugs and race in London.

Cocaine unveils new sources and covert social, cultural and political transformations that shed light on cocaine's hidden history. This volume is essential reading for anyone concerned with the place of drugs in the modern world.

Synopsis

Cocaine examines the rise and fall of this notorious substance from its legitimate use by scientists and medics in the nineteenth century to the international prohibitionist regimes and drug gangs of today. Themes explored include:

* Amsterdam's complex cocaine culture

* the manufacture, sale and control of cocaine in the United States

* Japan and the Southeast Asian cocaine industry

* export of cocaine prohibitions to Peru

* sex, drugs and race in early modern London

Cocaine unveils new primary sources and covert social, cultural and political transformations to shed light on cocaine's hidden history.

Description

Includes bibliographical references (p. [192]-203) and index.

Table of Contents

Making a modern drug: the manufacture, sale, and control of cocaine in the United States, 1880-1920 / Josheph F. Spillane -- Reluctance or resistance? Constructing cocaine (prohibitions) in Peru, 1910-50 / Paul Gootenberg -- Germany and the transformations of cocaine, 1880-1920 / H. Richard Friman -- Cocaine girls: sex, drugs, and modernity in London during and after the first World War / Marek Kohn -- Doctors, diplomats, and businessmen: conflicting interests in the Netherlands and Dutch East Indies, 1860-1950 / Marcel De Kort -- Japan and the cocaine industry of Southeast Asia, 1864-1944 / Steven B. Karch -- Colombia: cocaine and the "miracle" of modernity in Medellâin / Mary Roldâan -- Cocaine in Mexico: a prelude to "los narcos" / Luis Astorga.